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Opinion: 'Back the Blue' parade cannot be seen as anything other than BLM counter-protest, Potsdam woman says

Posted 8/14/20

“Back the Blue” rally organizer Joseph Gallagher says his event is not a counter-protest to the local Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. In this historic moment, it cannot be interpreted any …

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Opinion: 'Back the Blue' parade cannot be seen as anything other than BLM counter-protest, Potsdam woman says

Posted

“Back the Blue” rally organizer Joseph Gallagher says his event is not a counter-protest to the local Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. In this historic moment, it cannot be interpreted any other way.

Despite other professed intentions, having an event called “Back the Blue” gives the appearance of defending all police especially, given the timing, those who have callously murdered Black people.

I take issue with Gallagher’s statement, “Sometimes what you need to do is walk through the cemeteries and see if there are any tombstones that says ‘killed by a cop.’ You’re not going to find any in Northern New York because it doesn’t happen, it won’t happen.” Murder by police is the extreme end of a very wide continuum of intimidation, surveillance, and unequal treatment experienced regularly by people of color in our community. I am proud to work at SUNY Potsdam, but ashamed that my students and colleagues of color report that they do not feel safe in the North Country, especially with regard to law enforcement.

A typical example: one of my students was riding in a car with two friends – another Black man and a white woman, who was driving. They were pulled over by police. Why? The officer told the driver he just wanted to make sure she was okay.

Another typical incident: a group of Black and Latinx professional musicians came from Boston to perform at a campus event. They were stopped by state police on their way into Potsdam and then again on their way home the next day. They were treated harshly, one woman was even placed in handcuffs briefly. These wonderful artists told me they would not be returning to the North Country again.

If it comes as a surprise to you that people of color feel unwelcome and unsafe in the North Country, please learn more. Ask any person of color how their children are bullied at school or how they’ve been treated by police or how they feel when they see confederate flags on houses and cars.

If you don’t personally know anyone of color, another way to learn is through the Adirondack Diversity Initiative’s important work such as their “Anti-Racism 101” and “Driving While Black” series: https://adirondack.org/Listen-in.

If you believe in liberty and justice for all, stand up and help make it so. Do not support this shameful rally.

Heather Sullivan-Catlin

Potsdam